Vazhaipoo Vadai Recipe

My amma makes vazhaipoo vadai very often and it goes well for meals and also as a evening tea time snack. I never expected my Darling Husband to even like it when I first made it, but he got addicted to the taste of vada and asks me to make it very often. So my helper does the cleaning and gives me, I happily make vada and vazhaipoo curry for rice at ease. Sometimes I am lucky to get the cleaned vazhaipoo florets in the super market. But if I had to clean, definitely not on our menu:P So, lets see the recipe for healthy vazhaipoo vadai. 

VAZHAIPOO VADAI RECIPE

Recipe Category: South Indian | Snacks

Soaking Time: 3-4 hours Preparation Time: 20 minutes 
Cooking Time: 10 minutes Serves: 16 pieces

Ingredients:

Vazhaipoo  - 1 cup, cleaned
Channa Dal - 1/2 cup, soaked and drained
Dry Red Chillies - 4
Fennel Seeds - 2 tsp
Coconut Flakes - 1 tbsp, grated
Small Onions( Shallots) - 10
Curry Leaves - few
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - required

For Frying:
Oil - as required

Method of Preparation:

1. Soak channa dal in water for 3-4 hours. Drain well and keep aside. Clean the vazhaipoo and blend slight coarsely as like in the picture and transfer to a mixing bowl. In the same blender jar, add the channa dal, red chillies and fennel seeds.

2. Blend the dhal coarsely. Transfer to the mixing bowl. In the same blender jar,add grated coconut and blend finely. Transfer to the mixing bowl.In the same blender jar, add small onions and curry leaves and blend coarsely.

3.Transfer to the mixing bowl. Add a spoon of oil. Mix everything well in the mixing bowl, add salt and check taste. If desired for more spicy vadas, add red chilli powder else you can skip it. The vadai mixture is ready. Heat oil in a kadai for frying, make medium sized balls in your palm.

4.Press them with your other palm to make medium sized patties or vadais. Once the oil is hot, drop in the vadai and fry well in medium flame on both sides til the vadai is cooked fully in the inside and crispy brown on the outside. Remove and keep in a tissue paper. Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Notes:

• I haven't soaked cleaned vazhaipoo in buttermilk, as others do to prevent browning of vazhaipoo. 
• Don't add water while grinding. 
• Cook in medium flame till crispy and cooked inside. 
• If storing overnight or for later use, don't add salt. Add salt while frying. 
• Adding grated coconut enhances the taste of vada.
• You can also add red chilli powder instead of red chillies. 
• This is medium spicy, you can use maximum 4-5 red chillies. 
• Instead of grinding the shallots to coarse, you can chop them finely.